Boonie Tails

By Grace Keilbach, Annika Carlson, and Aria Keilbach

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

It's safe to assume that if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of Saipan and know that it's a United States territory near Guam. But where in the world is that, and what does it actually mean? Let's take a deeper look at the islands our boonies call home.

Saipan and its neighboring islands have a long and convoluted history that, sadly, is often overlooked in our education. Having been colonized and passed around by Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States—all within a single century—the island has remnants of its colonial past and bloody history all around. The U.S. took control of the Northern Mariana Islands during the Second World War, but the CNMI only received official commonwealth status in 1986 (after a 1975 vote by its people).

A commonwealth, like the CNMI and Puerto Rico, is a “self-governing” territory overseen by the federal government, without sovereignty. Citizens of the CNMI have U.S. citizenship and receive benefits such as defense and economic assistance.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “This is reminding me of that whole throwing-tea-into-the-ocean-when-a-large-and-powerful-country-took-over-and-people-didn’t-have-the-right-to-vote thing,” and to that we would say, you’re not entirely wrong. However, there are pros (and cons, depending on who you ask) to being a part, but not really a part, of the United States.

Organized, unincorporated

There are two more terms that are important to understanding the territories. (Get ready to be more confused.) A territory can either be organized or unorganized; organized territories have local self-government, while unorganized territories do not. (American Samoa is the only one of the five territories that is unorganized; American Samoans are U.S. nationals but not citizens. But I’ll not go on a tangent about that.)

Territories are also classified as either incorporated or unincorporated, defined respectively by whether the U.S. constitution is fully enforced or if certain portions of the constitution may be suspended. Take a guess as to whether Saipan is incorporated or unincorporated. (Hint: animal cruelty laws were only instated in 2020…) Both Guam and the CNMI are unincorporated, organized territories (Asia Matters for America).

Hopefully, you now have a somewhat deeper understanding of Saipan and its relationship to the United States. If this has inspired you to learn more about the territories, I highly recommend reading The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack. (Not sponsored; we’re just really passionate about this book.)

Boonie of the Week

With the mama chicken and family nowhere to be found, there was nothing left to do except take the chick home (honestly expecting her to die, after nearly being dog food). She was a tiny little puff, so we stuck her in the puppy incubator and hoped for the best. Much to our surprise, she not only made it through the night, but the next few days, and then weeks.

We honestly had no idea what to do with this chicken, but with no other good options, she stayed with us in the house. Eventually we made her a (dog proof) coop and—with heavy supervision—put her out a few hours each day. The dogs eventually became accustomed to her, and she to them, and they often spend the day hanging out together (on opposite sides of the coop wire). Yicken eats all our Boonie Babies crew’s scraps and steps up to eat any critter we need her to—which comes in handy since we’re constantly picking ticks off dogs, fighting termite season, and panicking when huntsman spiders make their way into our home.

New stickers available on our store

Boonie Babies is so excited to be dropping all new merchandise soon. You, our newsletter subscribers, will be the first to know when new items are available. For now, head to our online store to buy our new “Save the Boonies” stickers.

You can also get a discount: once you refer five friends to this newsletter using the code above, you’ll get a unique code for $5 off your whole purchase—that’s one free sticker!